Systems and methods for interactive broadcasting

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can provide an interface through which a live content stream is presented, the live content stream being accessed through a content provider system and providing information describing a voting event for interacting with at least one broadcaster of the live content stream, the voting event including at least a first voting option and a corresponding first feedback option that is capable of being selected to vote for the first voting option by a user operating the computing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/393,046, filed on Dec. 28, 2016 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORINTERACTIVE BROADCASTING”, all of which are incorporated in theirentireties herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present technology relates to the field of content broadcasting.More particularly, the present technology relates to techniques forbroadcasting live content

BACKGROUND

Today, people often utilize computing devices (or systems) for a widevariety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices to, forexample, interact with one another, access content, share content, andcreate content. In some cases, content items can include postings frommembers of a social network. The postings may include text and livecontent streams, such as images, videos, and audio. The postings may bepublished to the social network for consumption by others.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can include systems,methods, and non-transitory computer readable media configured toprovide an interface through which a live content stream is presented,the live content stream being accessed through a content provider systemand provide information describing a voting event for interacting withat least one broadcaster of the live content stream, the voting eventincluding at least a first voting option and a corresponding firstfeedback option that is capable of being selected to vote for the firstvoting option by a user operating the computing device.

In an embodiment, the first voting option corresponds to a first topicof interest, and wherein the first feedback option is capable of beingselected to vote for the first topic of interest.

In an embodiment, at least one notification is sent to the at least onebroadcaster after receiving a threshold number of votes for the firsttopic of interest, the notification requesting the broadcaster to speakon the first topic of interest.

In an embodiment, the voting event includes a second voting optioncorresponding to a second topic of interest, and wherein a secondfeedback option is capable of being selected to vote for the secondtopic of interest.

In an embodiment, the first feedback option corresponds to at least oneoption that is capable of being selected through the content providersystem.

In an embodiment, the first feedback option is at least one of a likeoption, a reaction option, posting a comment in response to the livecontent stream through the content provider system, or sharing the livecontent stream with other users of the content provider system.

In an embodiment, the first voting option corresponds to a first filterthat is capable of being applied to the live content stream, wherein thefirst feedback option is able to be selected to vote for the firstfilter, and wherein application of the first filter causes a visualmodification in the live content stream.

In an embodiment, the first filter is automatically applied to the livecontent stream after receiving a threshold number of votes for the firstfilter.

In an embodiment, the voting event includes a second voting optioncorresponding to a second filter, and wherein a second feedback optionis capable of being selected to vote for the second filter.

In an embodiment, the visual modification corresponds to at least a textoverlay, graphical overlay, virtual doodle, text animation, graphicalanimation, or placement of a face mask.

It should be appreciated that many other features, applications,embodiments, and/or variations of the disclosed technology will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the following detaileddescription. Additional and/or alternative implementations of thestructures, systems, non-transitory computer readable media, and methodsdescribed herein can be employed without departing from the principlesof the disclosed technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system including an example contentprovider module configured to provide access to various content items,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a viewer module, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a filter module, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-D illustrate example interfaces for interacting with livecontent streams, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process, according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a network diagram of an example system including anexample social networking system that can be utilized in variousscenarios, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a computer system or computing devicethat can be utilized in various scenarios, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

The figures depict various embodiments of the disclosed technology forpurposes of illustration only, wherein the figures use like referencenumerals to identify like elements. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated in the figures can be employedwithout departing from the principles of the disclosed technologydescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Approaches For Interactive Broadcasting

Today, people often utilize computing devices (or systems) for a widevariety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices to, forexample, interact with one another, access content, share content, andcreate content. In some cases, content items can include postings frommembers of a social network. The postings may include text and livecontent streams, such as images, videos, and audio. The postings may bepublished to the social network for consumption by others.

Under conventional approaches, content may be broadcast through acontent provider (e.g., social networking system) using variousbroadcast mediums (e.g., Internet broadcasting, etc.). In one example, alive content stream can include content that is being captured andstreamed live by a user (e.g., a broadcaster). For example, thebroadcaster can capture and stream an event (e.g., a live video of thebroadcaster, concert, speech, etc.) as part of a live content stream.Such events can be captured using computing devices (e.g., mobiledevices with audio and video capture capabilities) and/or standalonedevices (e.g., video cameras and microphones). A user (e.g., a viewer)operating a computing device can access the live content stream throughthe content provider. In response, the content provider encodes andprovides data corresponding to the live content stream to the user'scomputing device over a network (e.g., the Internet) in real-time. Thecomputing device can decode and present the live content stream, forexample, through a display screen of the computing device. In general,the live content stream continues to be provided to the user's computingdevice until the broadcaster discontinues broadcasting the live contentstream or the user instructs the computing device to stop accessing thelive content stream, for example. In some instances, users viewing thelive content stream may want to interact with the broadcaster(s) of thelive content stream. Such interaction can be limited under conventionalapproaches which typically do not provide features that allow viewers tointeract with broadcasters. Accordingly, such conventional approachesmay not be effective in addressing these and other problems arising incomputer technology.

An improved approach rooted in computer technology overcomes theforegoing and other disadvantages associated with conventionalapproaches specifically arising in the realm of computer technology. Invarious embodiments, a content provider (e.g., social networking system)is configured to provide various options that allow users (or viewers)to interact with broadcasters (and co-broadcasters) of live contentstreams. For example, in some embodiments, viewers of a live contentstream can select and/or vote for filters to be applied to the livecontent stream. Such filters can involve changing the appearance of abroadcaster, for example, using augmented reality and/or applyinggraphical overlays. In some embodiments, these filters can also beapplied to co-broadcasters of the live content stream. In someembodiments, viewers can also vote on whether they want to see thebroadcaster perform some action. In some embodiments, promptsencouraging viewers to vote a certain way can be incorporated into thelive content stream to gamify the live broadcast.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 including an example contentprovider module 102 configured to provide access to various contentitems, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown inthe example of FIG. 1, the content provider module 102 can include acontent upload module 104, a live stream module 106, a content module108, and a viewer module 110. In some instances, the example system 100can include at least one data store 112. The components (e.g., modules,elements, etc.) shown in this figure and all figures herein are examplesonly, and other implementations may include additional, fewer,integrated, or different components. Some components may not be shown soas not to obscure relevant details.

In some embodiments, the content provider module 102 can be implemented,in part or in whole, as software, hardware, or any combination thereof.In general, a module as discussed herein can be associated withsoftware, hardware, or any combination thereof. In some implementations,one or more functions, tasks, and/or operations of modules can becarried out or performed by software routines, software processes,hardware, and/or any combination thereof. In some cases, the contentprovider module 102 can be implemented, in part or in whole, as softwarerunning on one or more computing devices or systems, such as on a useror client computing device. In one example, the content provider module102 or at least a portion thereof can be implemented as or within anapplication (e.g., app), a program, or an applet, etc., running on auser computing device or a client computing system, such as the userdevice 610 of FIG. 6. In another example, the content provider module102 or at least a portion thereof can be implemented using one or morecomputing devices or systems that include one or more servers, such asnetwork servers or cloud servers. In some instances, the contentprovider module 102 can, in part or in whole, be implemented within orconfigured to operate in conjunction with a social networking system (orservice), such as the social networking system 630 of FIG. 6.

The content provider module 102 can be configured to communicate and/oroperate with the at least one data store 112, as shown in the examplesystem 100. The at least one data store 112 can be configured to storeand maintain various types of data. For example, the data store 112 canstore information describing various content that is being streamed livethrough the social networking system and/or content items that have beenposted by users of the social networking system. In someimplementations, the at least one data store 112 can store informationassociated with the social networking system (e.g., the socialnetworking system 630 of FIG. 6). The information associated with thesocial networking system can include data about users, socialconnections, social interactions, locations, geo-fenced areas, maps,places, events, pages, groups, posts, communications, content, feeds,account settings, privacy settings, a social graph, and various othertypes of data. In some implementations, the at least one data store 112can store information associated with users, such as user identifiers,user information, profile information, user specified settings, contentproduced or posted by users, and various other types of user data.

The content provider module 102 can be configured to provide users withaccess to content items that are posted through a social networkingsystem. For example, a user can interact with an interface that isprovided by a software application (e.g., a social networkingapplication) running on a computing device of the user. This interfacecan include an option for posting, or uploading, content items to thesocial networking system. When posting a content item, the contentupload module 104 can be utilized to communicate data describing thecontent item from the computing device to the social networking system.Such content items may include text, images, audio, and videos, forexample. The social networking system can then provide the content itemthrough the social networking system including, for example, in one ormore news feeds. In some embodiments, the interface can also include anoption for live streaming content through the social networking system.When initiating a live content stream, the live stream module 106 can beutilized to communicate data (e.g., audio data, video data, etc.)corresponding to the content to be streamed live from the computingdevice and through the social networking system. The live stream module106 can utilize any generally known techniques that allow for livestreaming of content including, for example, the Real Time MessagingProtocol (RTMP). In various embodiments, the computing device from whichthe live content stream is being provided can be equipped to capturedata (e.g., video data, audio data, etc.) corresponding to the livecontent stream.

The interface provided by the software application can also be used toaccess posted content items, for example, using the content module 108.For example, the content module 108 can include content items in auser's news feed. Such content items may include on-demand content items(e.g., video on-demand or “VOD”) as well as content that is beingstreamed live. In this example, the user can access content items whilebrowsing the news feed. In another example, the user can access contentitems by performing searches through the interface. For example, theuser can search for a given content item or live content stream, for auser that posted a content item or live content stream, and/or forsearch terms that correspond to a content item or live content stream.In one example, the user may select an option to view a live contentstream and, in response, the social networking system can send datacorresponding to the live content stream to a computing device of theuser. In this example, the social networking system can continue sendingdata corresponding to the live content stream until, for example, thebroadcaster of the live content stream discontinues streaming or if theuser selects an option to discontinue playback of the live contentstream. The viewer module 110 can be configured to provide variousoptions for interacting with broadcasters of live content streams. Moredetails regarding the viewer module 110 will be provided below withreference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a viewer module 202, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the viewermodule 110 of FIG. 1 can be implemented as the viewer module 202. Asshown in FIG. 2, the viewer module 202 can include an action module 204,a filter module 206, and a gamification module 208.

In various embodiments, the viewer module 202 can provide users (orviewers) accessing live content streams with options for interactingwith broadcasters (and co-broadcasters) of those live content streams.In some embodiments, the action module 204 can provide an option forrequesting one or more actions to be performed by one or morebroadcasters of a live content stream. In some embodiments, this optioncan be presented in a viewer interface through which the live contentstream is being accessed. The viewer interface can be provided by asoftware application (e.g., social networking application) running on acomputing device being operated by a viewer. Other approaches forsubmitting action requests to broadcasters are possible. For example, insome embodiments, viewers can request actions to be performed bybroadcasters by submitting (e.g., posting) comments through the viewerinterface in which the live content stream is being presented. Ingeneral, actions requested by viewers can be presented to a broadcaster,for example, through a broadcaster interface. The broadcaster interfacemay be provided by a software application (e.g., social networkingapplication) running on a computing device being operated by thebroadcaster. In general, such actions may be performed verbally orphysically. For example, the viewer may submit a request asking thebroadcaster to speak about a certain topic, to say a certain word orphrase, or utter some sound, to provide some examples. In anotherexample, the viewer may submit a request asking the broadcaster toperform some physical action such as jumping through a hoop or dancing,for example. The broadcaster(s) of the live content stream can decidewhether to perform any of the actions requested by viewers during thelive broadcast.

In some embodiments, the broadcaster(s) and/or viewer(s) may opt togamify the requested action(s). For example, a viewer requesting that acertain action be performed may utilize the gamification module 208 tocreate an interactive game that encourages the broadcaster(s) to performthe requested action(s). In some embodiments, the interactive games canbe implemented as one or more voting events that encourage a broadcasterto perform one or more actions. In various embodiments, the gamificationmodule 208 can be used to define parameters for conducting a votingevent. For example, a requested action to be performed by a broadcastercan be associated with at least one feedback option (e.g., a “like”option) that can be selected by viewers of the live content stream.Further, respective thresholds for the feedback options can bespecified. These thresholds can be used to determine the number of votes(e.g., feedback option selections) that are needed to conclude thevoting event. For example, viewers wanting to see a broadcaster performa certain action can select a pre-defined feedback option that wasassociated with the action. In some embodiments, a notification askingthe broadcaster to perform the action can be presented to thebroadcaster when a threshold number of viewers have selected thefeedback option. Alternatively, in some embodiments, a notificationasking the broadcaster to perform the action can be presented to thebroadcaster when the feedback option has been selected a thresholdnumber of times (regardless of the number of viewers that selected theoption). In one example, a viewer that wants to see the broadcasterspeak on a topic can create an interactive game in which viewers of thelive content broadcast can vote a certain way to have the broadcasterspeak on the requested topic. In some embodiments, visual promptsencouraging viewers to vote a certain way can be incorporated into thelive content stream to make the live broadcast more interactive. In suchembodiments, a visual prompt overlay can be shown in the interfacethrough which the live content stream is being presented. In thisexample, the prompt can ask viewers to select pre-defined feedbackoption(s) if the viewers want the broadcaster speak on the topic (e.g.,“click ‘like’ if you want the broadcaster to speak about skiing”).

In some embodiments, a voting event can include more than one votingoption. For example, a voting event can include a first voting optionthat is associated with a first feedback option and a second votingoption that is associated with a second feedback option. In thisexample, viewers can select one of the feedback options to vote for agiven voting option. In one example, viewers participating in a votingevent can select a first feedback option to vote for a first action tobe performed by a broadcaster or a second feedback option to vote for asecond action to be performed by the broadcaster. In general, a feedbackoption can be any operation that is capable of being performed byviewers to provide feedback to a content provider through which the livecontent stream is being accessed. In some embodiments, the feedbackoption can be any operation that can be performed through a contentprovider system (e.g., social networking system) to provide feedback.For example, a feedback option can correspond to a “like” option, areaction option, an option to post a comment in response to the livecontent stream, or an option to share the live content stream (e.g., acontent item referencing the live content stream) with other users ofthe social networking system, to name some examples.

In some embodiments, viewers can interact with broadcasters bysuggesting one or more filters to be applied to a live content stream orto specific broadcasters of the live content stream. The filter module206 can provide viewers with options for requesting the application ofvarious filters to a live content stream. In general, such filters canvisually modify the appearance of the live content stream or of one ormore broadcasters of the live content stream. Some examples of filtersthat may be applied to the live content stream include inserting textoverlays or drawings (e.g., scribbling, doodling, etc.) using virtualwriting instruments (e.g., brushes, markers, etc.), inserting graphicaloverlays (e.g., icons, stickers, etc.), inserting animations, to namesome examples. In some embodiments, the broadcaster of a live contentstream has the option to selectively approve viewer requests forapplying one or more filters to the live content stream. In someembodiments, options for requesting the application of filters can bepresented in a viewer interface through which the live content stream isbeing accessed. As mentioned, the viewer interface can be provided by asoftware application (e.g., social networking application) running on acomputing device being operated by a viewer. In general, filtersrequests submitted by viewers can be presented to a broadcaster, forexample, through a broadcaster interface which may be provided by asoftware application (e.g., social networking application) running on acomputing device being operated by the broadcaster.

In some embodiments, the broadcaster(s) and/or viewer(s) may opt togamify the application of requested filters. For example, a viewerrequesting that a certain filter be applied to a live content stream mayutilize the gamification module 208 to create an interactive game. Thisinteractive game can be used to determine whether or not a given filteris applied to the live content stream. In some embodiments, theinteractive game can be implemented as one or more voting events, asdescribed above. For example, the gamification module 208 can be used todefine various parameters for a voting event. In one example, arequested filter can be associated with at least one feedback optionthat is capable of being selected by viewers of the live content stream.Further, respective thresholds for those feedback options can bespecified. These thresholds can be used to determine the number of votes(e.g., feedback option selections) that are needed to conclude thevoting event. In this example, viewers wanting to see a particularfilter be applied to the live content stream can be asked to select apre-define feedback option that was associated with the filter (e.g.,“10,000 likes needed for the broadcaster's face to turn green!”). Insome embodiments, a filter is automatically applied to the live contentstream when a threshold number of viewers have selected the feedbackoption. Alternatively, in some embodiments, a filter is automaticallyapplied to the live content stream when the feedback option has beenselected a threshold number of times (regardless of the number ofviewers that selected the option). As mentioned, in some embodiments, avoting event can include more than one voting option. For example, avoting event can include a first feedback option that can be selected tovote for a first filter to be applied to a live content stream and asecond feedback option that can be selected to vote for a second filterto be applied to the live content stream. More details describing thefilter module 206 will be provided below with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 illustrates a filter module 302, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. In some embodiments, the filter module 206 ofFIG. 2 can be implemented with the filter module 302. As shown in theexample of FIG. 3, the filter module 302 can include a text overlaymodule 304, a drawing module 306, a color selection module 308, agraphical overlay module 310, and an animation module 312. In variousembodiments, the filter module 302 can provide an editing interface thatallows a viewer to visually modify a live content stream while accessingthe live content stream. For example, a viewer operating a computingdevice can access the editing interface through a software application(e.g., a social networking application) running on the computing device.The editing interface may be accessed when the viewer is viewing a livecontent stream through the social networking system. In someembodiments, visual modifications made to a live content stream by oneviewer are shared with other users that are also viewing the livecontent stream. That is, the visual modifications are visible in therespective viewer interfaces being accessed by the other viewers.

In some embodiments, the editing interface can provide an option foradding one or more text overlays to the live content stream. When thisoption is selected, the text overlay module 304 can allow the viewer toinput text to be incorporated into the live content stream. For example,the viewer can input the text through a computing device being operatedby the viewer. In some embodiments, a virtual keyboard is presented inthe editing interface to allow the user to input text. The use canmodify the font, or style, used for the text overlays. The user can alsomodify the color(s) used for the text overlays through the colorselection module 308. In various embodiments, the user can drag andposition the text overlays in the live content stream as desired. Insome embodiments, a text overlay can be wrapped, for example, aroundshapes (e.g., circle, square, etc.) to create curve-shaped or bent text.

In some embodiments, the editing interface can provide an option fordrawing content (e.g., doodling) in the live content stream. When thisoption is selected, the drawing module 306 can present an interface thatallows the viewer to select a virtual writing instrument. The viewer canuse a selected virtual writing instrument to doodle virtually in thelive content stream. In some embodiments, the virtual writinginstruments that are available for selection include a marker, a brush,and eraser. In some embodiments, the interface also includes a colorpalette from which the user can select colors to be used when drawingwith the selected writing instrument. In some embodiments, the user canadjust the tip size of a selected writing instrument, for example, byincreasing or decreasing a tip size selector. Once a virtual writinginstrument is selected, the user can doodle using the virtual writinginstrument directly through a touch screen display of the computingdevice, for example, using the user's finger as a physical drawinginstrument. Visual modifications that result from such user interactioncan be presented as an overlay in the interface through which the livecontent stream is being presented.

In various embodiments, the color selection module 308 can provide theuser with options for selecting a color to be used, for example, whendrawing using a virtual writing instrument or inputting text. In someembodiments, the color selection module 308 provides a virtual colorpalette that includes options for selecting various colors that areavailable. In some embodiments, the color selection module 308 providesa virtual color spectrum from which the user can select colors. Forexample, the user can tap and navigate the user's finger across thevirtual color spectrum to choose a desired color. In some embodiments,the color selection module 308 can provide an eyedropper tool option.The user can use the eyedropper tool to select a portion of a livecontent stream. Upon selecting the portion, the color selection module308 can select a color corresponding to the selected portion, forexample, to be used when drawing or inputting text.

In some embodiments, the graphical overlay module 310 can provide theuser with options for inserting graphical overlays in live contentstreams. For example, the graphical overlay module 310 can provide theuser with a set of virtual stickers that can be inserted in a livecontent stream. Upon selecting one or more of the virtual stickers, thegraphical overlay module 310 can insert the selected virtual stickersinto the desired live content stream. The user can drag and position anyof the virtual stickers in the live content stream as desired, forexample, by performing various touch screen gestures (e.g., draggesture). In some embodiments, the graphical overlay module 310 providessuggestions for graphical overlays, or virtual stickers, to be used in alive content stream. In such embodiments, the graphical overlay module310 can analyze the subject matter of the live content stream, forexample, using a trained machine learning model (e.g., contentclassifier) to identify various objects (e.g., identities, or names, ofindividuals, objects, activities, products, logos, animals, points ofinterest, or other concepts) present in the live content stream. Basedon the identified objects, the graphical overlay module 310 can suggestvarious graphical overlays to the viewer.

In some embodiments, the animation module 312 can provide the user withoptions for animating text. For example, after inputting text, the usercan select an animate option that causes the text to animate. Theanimate options can include options to make characters in the text movealong one or more directions (e.g., jiggling characters, animating textalong in a specified trajectory or path, text moves around in theinterface and bounces off the edges of the interface, etc.). In someembodiments, the animation module 312 can provide the user with optionsfor inserting animated graphical overlays in live content streams. Insome embodiments, the graphical overlays are animated virtual stickers,as described above. In some embodiments, the graphical overlays areanimated to trace, or follow, a one or more paths, trajectories, orboundaries of objects in the live content stream. One example ofanimated graphical overlays can include various masks that can bepositioned over faces (e.g., faces of broadcasters) in live contentstreams. In some embodiments, the rate, or speed, at which a graphicaloverlay is animated can be adjusted. In some embodiments, the useroperating the computing device can manually define an outline alongwhich a graphical overlay will be positioned and animated in a livecontent stream. In some embodiments, the animation module 312 canautomatically determine one or more outlines along which a graphicaloverlay will be animated in a live content stream, for example, usinggenerally known line detection techniques and/or edge detectiontechniques. In some embodiments, animated graphical overlays can besuggested by detecting facial features in a live content stream usinggenerally known face detection techniques. In this example, theplacement of a given animated graphical overlay can be determined basedon facial features (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc.) that weredetected in a live content stream. In some embodiments, such outlinescan be provided to viewers as suggestions when selecting filters to beapplied in the live content stream. In some embodiments, viewers canupload their own graphical overlays to be incorporated into live contentstreams using the techniques described above. As mentioned, any visualmodification of a live content stream that results from applying the anyof the filters described above can be presented as overlays in therespective interfaces through which the live content stream is beingaccessed.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example 400 of an interface 404 for interactingwith a live content stream, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The interface 404 is presented on a display screen of acomputing device 402. The interface 404 may be provided through anapplication (e.g., a web browser, a social networking application, etc.)running on the computing device 402. In this example, the interface 404includes a region 406 in which the live content stream being accessed isdisplayed. The interface 404 also includes a region 408 in whichcomments posted by various users in response to the live content streamare displayed. In some embodiments, the interface 404 can present avisual prompt 410 for interacting with the live content stream. In theexample of FIG. 4A, the visual prompt 410 provides viewers withinformation describing a voting event that is in progress. The votingevent includes a first voting option 412 that can be selected to ask thebroadcaster to discuss her trip to Jamaica and a second voting option414 to ask the broadcaster to discuss professional skiing. The visualprompt 410 can also indicate the threshold number of votes needed for avoting option before the voting event concludes (e.g., 5,000 votes). Inthis example, the first voting option 412 is associated with a firstfeedback option 416 (e.g., a “like” option) and the second voting option414 is associated with a second feedback option 418 (e.g., a “heart”reaction option). Viewers of the live content stream can select eitherof these feedback options through their respective interfaces to votefor a corresponding voting option.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example 420 of an interface 424 for interactingwith a live content stream, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The interface 424 is presented on a display screen of acomputing device 422. The interface 424 may be provided through anapplication (e.g., a web browser, a social networking application, etc.)running on the computing device 422. In this example, the interface 424includes a region 426 in which the live content stream being accessed isdisplayed. The interface 424 also includes a region 428 in whichcomments posted by various users in response to the live content streamare displayed. In some embodiments, the interface 424 can present avisual prompt 430 for interacting with the live content stream. In theexample of FIG. 4B, the visual prompt 430 provides viewers withinformation describing a voting event that is in progress. The votingevent includes a first voting option 432 that can be selected tovisually modify the live content stream by placing virtual sunglassesover the broadcaster's eyes using augmented reality. The voting eventalso includes a second voting option 434 that can be selected tovisually modify the live content stream by having virtual laser beamsappear from the broadcaster's eyes using augmented reality. The visualprompt 430 can also indicate the number of votes needed for a votingoption before the voting event concludes (e.g., 1,000 votes). In thisexample, the first voting option 432 is associated with a first feedbackoption 436 (e.g., a “like” option) and the second voting option 434 isassociated with a second feedback option 438 (e.g., a “laugh” reactionoption). Viewers of the live content stream can select either of thesefeedback options to vote for a corresponding voting option. In thisexample, if the threshold number of votes (e.g., 1,000 votes) arereceived for the first voting option 432, then a virtual pair ofsunglasses 440 can automatically be positioned and displayed over thebroadcaster's eyes, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 4C. Similarly,if the threshold number of votes (e.g., 1,000 votes) are received forthe second voting option 434, then laser beams 442 can automatically bepositioned and displayed as originating from the broadcaster's eyes, asillustrated in the example of FIG. 4D. In some embodiments, thesegraphical overlays are applied using generally known augmented realitytechniques. The foregoing examples illustrate two voting options forease of illustration. However, in various embodiments, voting events canbe configured to include any number of voting options. Moreover, avoting option can be used to vote for a particular action to beperformed by a broadcaster, a particular filter to be applied to a livecontent stream, or both.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process 500, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated thatthere can be additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed insimilar or alternative orders, or in parallel, within the scope of thevarious embodiments discussed herein unless otherwise stated.

At block 502, the example process 500 provides an interface throughwhich a live content stream is presented. The live content stream can beaccessed through a content provider system. At block 504, informationdescribing a voting event for interacting with at least one broadcasterof the live content stream is provided. The voting event can include atleast a first voting option and a corresponding first feedback optionthat is capable of being selected to vote for the first voting option bya user operating the computing device.

It is contemplated that there can be many other uses, applications,and/or variations associated with the various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For example, in some cases, user can choose whether or notto opt-in to utilize the disclosed technology. The disclosed technologycan also ensure that various privacy settings and preferences aremaintained and can prevent private information from being divulged. Inanother example, various embodiments of the present disclosure canlearn, improve, and/or be refined over time.

Social Networking System—Example Implementation

FIG. 6 illustrates a network diagram of an example system 600 that canbe utilized in various scenarios, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The system 600 includes one or more user devices610, one or more external systems 620, a social networking system (orservice) 630, and a network 650. In an embodiment, the social networkingservice, provider, and/or system discussed in connection with theembodiments described above may be implemented as the social networkingsystem 630. For purposes of illustration, the embodiment of the system600, shown by FIG. 6, includes a single external system 620 and a singleuser device 610. However, in other embodiments, the system 600 mayinclude more user devices 610 and/or more external systems 620. Incertain embodiments, the social networking system 630 is operated by asocial network provider, whereas the external systems 620 are separatefrom the social networking system 630 in that they may be operated bydifferent entities. In various embodiments, however, the socialnetworking system 630 and the external systems 620 operate inconjunction to provide social networking services to users (or members)of the social networking system 630. In this sense, the socialnetworking system 630 provides a platform or backbone, which othersystems, such as external systems 620, may use to provide socialnetworking services and functionalities to users across the Internet.

The user device 610 comprises one or more computing devices (or systems)that can receive input from a user and transmit and receive data via thenetwork 650. In one embodiment, the user device 610 is a conventionalcomputer system executing, for example, a Microsoft Windows compatibleoperating system (OS), Apple OS X, and/or a Linux distribution. Inanother embodiment, the user device 610 can be a computing device or adevice having computer functionality, such as a smart-phone, a tablet, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a laptop computer,a wearable device (e.g., a pair of glasses, a watch, a bracelet, etc.),a camera, an appliance, etc. The user device 610 is configured tocommunicate via the network 650. The user device 610 can execute anapplication, for example, a browser application that allows a user ofthe user device 610 to interact with the social networking system 630.In another embodiment, the user device 610 interacts with the socialnetworking system 630 through an application programming interface (API)provided by the native operating system of the user device 610, such asiOS and ANDROID. The user device 610 is configured to communicate withthe external system 620 and the social networking system 630 via thenetwork 650, which may comprise any combination of local area and/orwide area networks, using wired and/or wireless communication systems.

In one embodiment, the network 650 uses standard communicationstechnologies and protocols. Thus, the network 650 can include linksusing technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperabilityfor microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, CDMA, GSM, LTE, digital subscriberline (DSL), etc. Similarly, the networking protocols used on the network650 can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol(UDP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transferprotocol (SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and the like. The dataexchanged over the network 650 can be represented using technologiesand/or formats including hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensiblemarkup language (XML). In addition, all or some links can be encryptedusing conventional encryption technologies such as secure sockets layer(SSL), transport layer security (TLS), and Internet Protocol security(IPsec).

In one embodiment, the user device 610 may display content from theexternal system 620 and/or from the social networking system 630 byprocessing a markup language document 614 received from the externalsystem 620 and from the social networking system 630 using a browserapplication 612. The markup language document 614 identifies content andone or more instructions describing formatting or presentation of thecontent. By executing the instructions included in the markup languagedocument 614, the browser application 612 displays the identifiedcontent using the format or presentation described by the markuplanguage document 614. For example, the markup language document 614includes instructions for generating and displaying a web page havingmultiple frames that include text and/or image data retrieved from theexternal system 620 and the social networking system 630. In variousembodiments, the markup language document 614 comprises a data fileincluding extensible markup language (XML) data, extensible hypertextmarkup language (XHTML) data, or other markup language data.Additionally, the markup language document 614 may include JavaScriptObject Notation (JSON) data, JSON with padding (JSONP), and JavaScriptdata to facilitate data-interchange between the external system 620 andthe user device 610. The browser application 612 on the user device 610may use a JavaScript compiler to decode the markup language document614.

The markup language document 614 may also include, or link to,applications or application frameworks such as FLASH™ or Unity™applications, the Silverlight™ application framework, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device 610 also includes one or more cookies616 including data indicating whether a user of the user device 610 islogged into the social networking system 630, which may enablemodification of the data communicated from the social networking system630 to the user device 610.

The external system 620 includes one or more web servers that includeone or more web pages 622 a, 622 b, which are communicated to the userdevice 610 using the network 650. The external system 620 is separatefrom the social networking system 630. For example, the external system620 is associated with a first domain, while the social networkingsystem 630 is associated with a separate social networking domain. Webpages 622 a, 622 b, included in the external system 620, comprise markuplanguage documents 614 identifying content and including instructionsspecifying formatting or presentation of the identified content. Asdiscussed previously, it should be appreciated that there can be manyvariations or other possibilities.

The social networking system 630 includes one or more computing devicesfor a social network, including a plurality of users, and providingusers of the social network with the ability to communicate and interactwith other users of the social network. In some instances, the socialnetwork can be represented by a graph, i.e., a data structure includingedges and nodes. Other data structures can also be used to represent thesocial network, including but not limited to databases, objects,classes, meta elements, files, or any other data structure. The socialnetworking system 630 may be administered, managed, or controlled by anoperator. The operator of the social networking system 630 may be ahuman being, an automated application, or a series of applications formanaging content, regulating policies, and collecting usage metricswithin the social networking system 630. Any type of operator may beused.

Users may join the social networking system 630 and then add connectionsto any number of other users of the social networking system 630 to whomthey desire to be connected. As used herein, the term “friend” refers toany other user of the social networking system 630 to whom a user hasformed a connection, association, or relationship via the socialnetworking system 630. For example, in an embodiment, if users in thesocial networking system 630 are represented as nodes in the socialgraph, the term “friend” can refer to an edge formed between anddirectly connecting two user nodes.

Connections may be added explicitly by a user or may be automaticallycreated by the social networking system 630 based on commoncharacteristics of the users (e.g., users who are alumni of the sameeducational institution). For example, a first user specifically selectsa particular other user to be a friend. Connections in the socialnetworking system 630 are usually in both directions, but need not be,so the terms “user” and “friend” depend on the frame of reference.Connections between users of the social networking system 630 areusually bilateral (“two-way”), or “mutual,” but connections may also beunilateral, or “one-way.” For example, if Bob and Joe are both users ofthe social networking system 630 and connected to each other, Bob andJoe are each other's connections. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes toconnect to Joe to view data communicated to the social networking system630 by Joe, but Joe does not wish to form a mutual connection, aunilateral connection may be established. The connection between usersmay be a direct connection; however, some embodiments of the socialnetworking system 630 allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections or degrees of separation.

In addition to establishing and maintaining connections between usersand allowing interactions between users, the social networking system630 provides users with the ability to take actions on various types ofitems supported by the social networking system 630. These items mayinclude groups or networks (i.e., social networks of people, entities,and concepts) to which users of the social networking system 630 maybelong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested,computer-based applications that a user may use via the socialnetworking system 630, transactions that allow users to buy or sellitems via services provided by or through the social networking system630, and interactions with advertisements that a user may perform on oroff the social networking system 630. These are just a few examples ofthe items upon which a user may act on the social networking system 630,and many others are possible. A user may interact with anything that iscapable of being represented in the social networking system 630 or inthe external system 620, separate from the social networking system 630,or coupled to the social networking system 630 via the network 650.

The social networking system 630 is also capable of linking a variety ofentities. For example, the social networking system 630 enables users tointeract with each other as well as external systems 620 or otherentities through an API, a web service, or other communication channels.The social networking system 630 generates and maintains the “socialgraph” comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality ofedges. Each node in the social graph may represent an entity that canact on another node and/or that can be acted on by another node. Thesocial graph may include various types of nodes. Examples of types ofnodes include users, non-person entities, content items, web pages,groups, activities, messages, concepts, and any other things that can berepresented by an object in the social networking system 630. An edgebetween two nodes in the social graph may represent a particular kind ofconnection, or association, between the two nodes, which may result fromnode relationships or from an action that was performed by one of thenodes on the other node. In some cases, the edges between nodes can beweighted. The weight of an edge can represent an attribute associatedwith the edge, such as a strength of the connection or associationbetween nodes. Different types of edges can be provided with differentweights. For example, an edge created when one user “likes” another usermay be given one weight, while an edge created when a user befriendsanother user may be given a different weight.

As an example, when a first user identifies a second user as a friend,an edge in the social graph is generated connecting a node representingthe first user and a second node representing the second user. Asvarious nodes relate or interact with each other, the social networkingsystem 630 modifies edges connecting the various nodes to reflect therelationships and interactions.

The social networking system 630 also includes user-generated content,which enhances a user's interactions with the social networking system630. User-generated content may include anything a user can add, upload,send, or “post” to the social networking system 630. For example, a usercommunicates posts to the social networking system 630 from a userdevice 610. Posts may include data such as status updates or othertextual data, location information, images such as photos, videos,links, music or other similar data and/or media. Content may also beadded to the social networking system 630 by a third party. Content“items” are represented as objects in the social networking system 630.In this way, users of the social networking system 630 are encouraged tocommunicate with each other by posting text and content items of varioustypes of media through various communication channels. Suchcommunication increases the interaction of users with each other andincreases the frequency with which users interact with the socialnetworking system 630.

The social networking system 630 includes a web server 632, an APIrequest server 634, a user profile store 636, a connection store 638, anaction logger 640, an activity log 642, and an authorization server 644.In an embodiment of the invention, the social networking system 630 mayinclude additional, fewer, or different components for variousapplications. Other components, such as network interfaces, securitymechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and networkoperations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure thedetails of the system.

The user profile store 636 maintains information about user accounts,including biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies orpreferences, location, and the like that has been declared by users orinferred by the social networking system 630. This information is storedin the user profile store 636 such that each user is uniquelyidentified. The social networking system 630 also stores data describingone or more connections between different users in the connection store638. The connection information may indicate users who have similar orcommon work experience, group memberships, hobbies, or educationalhistory. Additionally, the social networking system 630 includesuser-defined connections between different users, allowing users tospecify their relationships with other users. For example, user-definedconnections allow users to generate relationships with other users thatparallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends,co-workers, partners, and so forth. Users may select from predefinedtypes of connections, or define their own connection types as needed.Connections with other nodes in the social networking system 630, suchas non-person entities, buckets, cluster centers, images, interests,pages, external systems, concepts, and the like are also stored in theconnection store 638.

The social networking system 630 maintains data about objects with whicha user may interact. To maintain this data, the user profile store 636and the connection store 638 store instances of the corresponding typeof objects maintained by the social networking system 630. Each objecttype has information fields that are suitable for storing informationappropriate to the type of object. For example, the user profile store636 contains data structures with fields suitable for describing auser's account and information related to a user's account. When a newobject of a particular type is created, the social networking system 630initializes a new data structure of the corresponding type, assigns aunique object identifier to it, and begins to add data to the object asneeded. This might occur, for example, when a user becomes a user of thesocial networking system 630, the social networking system 630 generatesa new instance of a user profile in the user profile store 636, assignsa unique identifier to the user account, and begins to populate thefields of the user account with information provided by the user.

The connection store 638 includes data structures suitable fordescribing a user's connections to other users, connections to externalsystems 620 or connections to other entities. The connection store 638may also associate a connection type with a user's connections, whichmay be used in conjunction with the user's privacy setting to regulateaccess to information about the user. In an embodiment of the invention,the user profile store 636 and the connection store 638 may beimplemented as a federated database.

Data stored in the connection store 638, the user profile store 636, andthe activity log 642 enables the social networking system 630 togenerate the social graph that uses nodes to identify various objectsand edges connecting nodes to identify relationships between differentobjects. For example, if a first user establishes a connection with asecond user in the social networking system 630, user accounts of thefirst user and the second user from the user profile store 636 may actas nodes in the social graph. The connection between the first user andthe second user stored by the connection store 638 is an edge betweenthe nodes associated with the first user and the second user. Continuingthis example, the second user may then send the first user a messagewithin the social networking system 630. The action of sending themessage, which may be stored, is another edge between the two nodes inthe social graph representing the first user and the second user.Additionally, the message itself may be identified and included in thesocial graph as another node connected to the nodes representing thefirst user and the second user.

In another example, a first user may tag a second user in an image thatis maintained by the social networking system 630 (or, alternatively, inan image maintained by another system outside of the social networkingsystem 630). The image may itself be represented as a node in the socialnetworking system 630. This tagging action may create edges between thefirst user and the second user as well as create an edge between each ofthe users and the image, which is also a node in the social graph. Inyet another example, if a user confirms attending an event, the user andthe event are nodes obtained from the user profile store 636, where theattendance of the event is an edge between the nodes that may beretrieved from the activity log 642. By generating and maintaining thesocial graph, the social networking system 630 includes data describingmany different types of objects and the interactions and connectionsamong those objects, providing a rich source of socially relevantinformation.

The web server 632 links the social networking system 630 to one or moreuser devices 610 and/or one or more external systems 620 via the network650. The web server 632 serves web pages, as well as other web-relatedcontent, such as Java, JavaScript, Flash, XML, and so forth. The webserver 632 may include a mail server or other messaging functionalityfor receiving and routing messages between the social networking system630 and one or more user devices 610. The messages can be instantmessages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or anyother suitable messaging format.

The API request server 634 allows one or more external systems 620 anduser devices 610 to call access information from the social networkingsystem 630 by calling one or more API functions. The API request server634 may also allow external systems 620 to send information to thesocial networking system 630 by calling APIs. The external system 620,in one embodiment, sends an API request to the social networking system630 via the network 650, and the API request server 634 receives the APIrequest. The API request server 634 processes the request by calling anAPI associated with the API request to generate an appropriate response,which the API request server 634 communicates to the external system 620via the network 650. For example, responsive to an API request, the APIrequest server 634 collects data associated with a user, such as theuser's connections that have logged into the external system 620, andcommunicates the collected data to the external system 620. In anotherembodiment, the user device 610 communicates with the social networkingsystem 630 via APIs in the same manner as external systems 620.

The action logger 640 is capable of receiving communications from theweb server 632 about user actions on and/or off the social networkingsystem 630. The action logger 640 populates the activity log 642 withinformation about user actions, enabling the social networking system630 to discover various actions taken by its users within the socialnetworking system 630 and outside of the social networking system 630.Any action that a particular user takes with respect to another node onthe social networking system 630 may be associated with each user'saccount, through information maintained in the activity log 642 or in asimilar database or other data repository. Examples of actions taken bya user within the social networking system 630 that are identified andstored may include, for example, adding a connection to another user,sending a message to another user, reading a message from another user,viewing content associated with another user, attending an event postedby another user, posting an image, attempting to post an image, or otheractions interacting with another user or another object. When a usertakes an action within the social networking system 630, the action isrecorded in the activity log 642. In one embodiment, the socialnetworking system 630 maintains the activity log 642 as a database ofentries. When an action is taken within the social networking system630, an entry for the action is added to the activity log 642. Theactivity log 642 may be referred to as an action log.

Additionally, user actions may be associated with concepts and actionsthat occur within an entity outside of the social networking system 630,such as an external system 620 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 630. For example, the action logger 640 may receivedata describing a user's interaction with an external system 620 fromthe web server 632. In this example, the external system 620 reports auser's interaction according to structured actions and objects in thesocial graph.

Other examples of actions where a user interacts with an external system620 include a user expressing an interest in an external system 620 oranother entity, a user posting a comment to the social networking system630 that discusses an external system 620 or a web page 622 a within theexternal system 620, a user posting to the social networking system 630a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other identifier associated with anexternal system 620, a user attending an event associated with anexternal system 620, or any other action by a user that is related to anexternal system 620. Thus, the activity log 642 may include actionsdescribing interactions between a user of the social networking system630 and an external system 620 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 630.

The authorization server 644 enforces one or more privacy settings ofthe users of the social networking system 630. A privacy setting of auser determines how particular information associated with a user can beshared. The privacy setting comprises the specification of particularinformation associated with a user and the specification of the entityor entities with whom the information can be shared. Examples ofentities with which information can be shared may include other users,applications, external systems 620, or any entity that can potentiallyaccess the information. The information that can be shared by a usercomprises user account information, such as profile photos, phonenumbers associated with the user, user's connections, actions taken bythe user such as adding a connection, changing user profile information,and the like.

The privacy setting specification may be provided at different levels ofgranularity. For example, the privacy setting may identify specificinformation to be shared with other users; the privacy settingidentifies a work phone number or a specific set of related information,such as, personal information including profile photo, home phonenumber, and status. Alternatively, the privacy setting may apply to allthe information associated with the user. The specification of the setof entities that can access particular information can also be specifiedat various levels of granularity. Various sets of entities with whichinformation can be shared may include, for example, all friends of theuser, all friends of friends, all applications, or all external systems620. One embodiment allows the specification of the set of entities tocomprise an enumeration of entities. For example, the user may provide alist of external systems 620 that are allowed to access certaininformation. Another embodiment allows the specification to comprise aset of entities along with exceptions that are not allowed to access theinformation. For example, a user may allow all external systems 620 toaccess the user's work information, but specify a list of externalsystems 620 that are not allowed to access the work information. Certainembodiments call the list of exceptions that are not allowed to accesscertain information a “block list”. External systems 620 belonging to ablock list specified by a user are blocked from accessing theinformation specified in the privacy setting. Various combinations ofgranularity of specification of information, and granularity ofspecification of entities, with which information is shared arepossible. For example, all personal information may be shared withfriends whereas all work information may be shared with friends offriends.

The authorization server 644 contains logic to determine if certaininformation associated with a user can be accessed by a user's friends,external systems 620, and/or other applications and entities. Theexternal system 620 may need authorization from the authorization server644 to access the user's more private and sensitive information, such asthe user's work phone number. Based on the user's privacy settings, theauthorization server 644 determines if another user, the external system620, an application, or another entity is allowed to access informationassociated with the user, including information about actions taken bythe user.

In some embodiments, the social networking system 630 can include acontent provider module 646. The content provider module 646 can, forexample, be implemented as the content provider module 102 of FIG. 1. Insome embodiments, the user device 610 can include a live stream module618. The live stream module 618 can, for example, be implemented as thelive stream module 106 of FIG. 1. As discussed previously, it should beappreciated that there can be many variations or other possibilities.

Hardware Implementation

The foregoing processes and features can be implemented by a widevariety of machine and computer system architectures and in a widevariety of network and computing environments. FIG. 7 illustrates anexample of a computer system 700 that may be used to implement one ormore of the embodiments described herein in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. The computer system 700 includes sets ofinstructions for causing the computer system 700 to perform theprocesses and features discussed herein. The computer system 700 may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the computer system 700 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine or a client machine in a client-server networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. In an embodiment of the invention, the computersystem 700 may be the social networking system 630, the user device 610,and the external system 720, or a component thereof. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the computer system 700 may be one server among many thatconstitutes all or part of the social networking system 630.

The computer system 700 includes a processor 702, a cache 704, and oneor more executable modules and drivers, stored on a computer-readablemedium, directed to the processes and features described herein.Additionally, the computer system 700 includes a high performanceinput/output (I/O) bus 706 and a standard I/O bus 708. A host bridge 710couples processor 702 to high performance I/O bus 706, whereas I/O busbridge 712 couples the two buses 706 and 708 to each other. A systemmemory 714 and one or more network interfaces 716 couple to highperformance I/O bus 706. The computer system 700 may further includevideo memory and a display device coupled to the video memory (notshown). Mass storage 718 and I/O ports 720 couple to the standard I/Obus 708. The computer system 700 may optionally include a keyboard andpointing device, a display device, or other input/output devices (notshown) coupled to the standard I/O bus 708. Collectively, these elementsare intended to represent a broad category of computer hardware systems,including but not limited to computer systems based on thex86-compatible processors manufactured by Intel Corporation of SantaClara, Calif., and the x86-compatible processors manufactured byAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., as well as anyother suitable processor.

An operating system manages and controls the operation of the computersystem 700, including the input and output of data to and from softwareapplications (not shown). The operating system provides an interfacebetween the software applications being executed on the system and thehardware components of the system. Any suitable operating system may beused, such as the LINUX Operating System, the Apple Macintosh OperatingSystem, available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., UNIXoperating systems, Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, BSD operatingsystems, and the like. Other implementations are possible.

The elements of the computer system 700 are described in greater detailbelow. In particular, the network interface 716 provides communicationbetween the computer system 700 and any of a wide range of networks,such as an Ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.3) network, a backplane, etc. Themass storage 718 provides permanent storage for the data and programminginstructions to perform the above-described processes and featuresimplemented by the respective computing systems identified above,whereas the system memory 714 (e.g., DRAM) provides temporary storagefor the data and programming instructions when executed by the processor702. The I/O ports 720 may be one or more serial and/or parallelcommunication ports that provide communication between additionalperipheral devices, which may be coupled to the computer system 700.

The computer system 700 may include a variety of system architectures,and various components of the computer system 700 may be rearranged. Forexample, the cache 704 may be on-chip with processor 702. Alternatively,the cache 704 and the processor 702 may be packed together as a“processor module”, with processor 702 being referred to as the“processor core”. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the invention mayneither require nor include all of the above components. For example,peripheral devices coupled to the standard I/O bus 708 may couple to thehigh performance I/O bus 706. In addition, in some embodiments, only asingle bus may exist, with the components of the computer system 700being coupled to the single bus. Moreover, the computer system 700 mayinclude additional components, such as additional processors, storagedevices, or memories.

In general, the processes and features described herein may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module, or series of instructions referredto as “programs”. For example, one or more programs may be used toexecute specific processes described herein. The programs typicallycomprise one or more instructions in various memory and storage devicesin the computer system 700 that, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the computer system 700 to perform operations toexecute the processes and features described herein. The processes andfeatures described herein may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit), or anycombination thereof.

In one implementation, the processes and features described herein areimplemented as a series of executable modules run by the computer system700, individually or collectively in a distributed computingenvironment. The foregoing modules may be realized by hardware,executable modules stored on a computer-readable medium (ormachine-readable medium), or a combination of both. For example, themodules may comprise a plurality or series of instructions to beexecuted by a processor in a hardware system, such as the processor 702.Initially, the series of instructions may be stored on a storage device,such as the mass storage 718. However, the series of instructions can bestored on any suitable computer readable storage medium. Furthermore,the series of instructions need not be stored locally, and could bereceived from a remote storage device, such as a server on a network,via the network interface 716. The instructions are copied from thestorage device, such as the mass storage 718, into the system memory 714and then accessed and executed by the processor 702. In variousimplementations, a module or modules can be executed by a processor ormultiple processors in one or multiple locations, such as multipleservers in a parallel processing environment.

Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to,recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices;solid state memories; floppy and other removable disks; hard diskdrives; magnetic media; optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-OnlyMemory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs)); other similarnon-transitory (or transitory), tangible (or non-tangible) storagemedium; or any type of medium suitable for storing, encoding, orcarrying a series of instructions for execution by the computer system700 to perform any one or more of the processes and features describedherein.

For purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the description. It will beapparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of thedisclosure can be practiced without these specific details. In someinstances, modules, structures, processes, features, and devices areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.In other instances, functional block diagrams and flow diagrams areshown to represent data and logic flows. The components of blockdiagrams and flow diagrams (e.g., modules, blocks, structures, devices,features, etc.) may be variously combined, separated, removed,reordered, and replaced in a manner other than as expressly describedand depicted herein.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“other embodiments”, “one series of embodiments”, “some embodiments”,“various embodiments”, or the like means that a particular feature,design, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Theappearances of, for example, the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in anembodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternativeembodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, whetheror not there is express reference to an “embodiment” or the like,various features are described, which may be variously combined andincluded in some embodiments, but also variously omitted in otherembodiments. Similarly, various features are described that may bepreferences or requirements for some embodiments, but not otherembodiments.

The language used herein has been principally selected for readabilityand instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected todelineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is thereforeintended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detaileddescription, but rather by any claims that issue on an application basedhereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the inventionis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of theinvention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:providing, by a computing system, an interface through which a livecontent stream is accessible, wherein the interface includes a pluralityof feedback options to interact with the live content stream; providing,by the computing system, a visual prompt in the interface, wherein thevisual prompt prompts viewers of the live content stream to select atleast one specified feedback option included in the plurality offeedback options to communicate a request for at least one broadcasterof the live content stream; and providing, by the computing system, therequest for the at least one broadcaster through a broadcaster interfacebased at least in part on a threshold number of selections of the atleast one specified feedback option.
 2. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the request prompts the at least one broadcaster toperform a verbal or physical action.
 3. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the at least one specified feedback option isselected to cast a vote for one or more actions to be performed by theat least one broadcaster.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3,wherein a notification to request the one or more actions to beperformed by the at least one broadcaster is provided when a thresholdcount of votes are cast for the one or more actions.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein a notification torequest the one or more actions to be performed by the at least onebroadcaster is provided when a threshold count of distinct viewers ofthe live content stream cast votes for the one or more actions.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request prompts theat least one broadcaster to apply at least one filter to visually modifythe live content stream.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6,wherein a notification to request application of the at least one filterby the at least one broadcaster to visually modify the live contentstream is provided when a threshold count of votes are cast for the oneor more actions.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, whereina notification to request application of the at least one filter by theat least one broadcaster to visually modify the live content stream isprovided when a threshold count of distinct viewers of the live contentstream cast votes for the one or more actions.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the at least one filterto visually modify the live content stream corresponds to at least oneof a text overlay, graphical overlay, virtual doodle, text animation,graphical animation, or placement of a face mask.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least onespecified feedback option corresponds to at least one of a like option,a reaction option, or an option to comment in response to the livecontent stream through the content provider system.
 11. A systemcomprising: at least one processor; and a memory storing instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system toperform: providing an interface through which a live content stream isaccessible, wherein the interface includes a plurality of feedbackoptions to interact with the live content stream; providing a visualprompt in the interface, wherein the visual prompt prompts viewers ofthe live content stream to select at least one specified feedback optionincluded in the plurality of feedback options to communicate a requestfor at least one broadcaster of the live content stream; and providingthe request for the at least one broadcaster through a broadcasterinterface based at least in part on a threshold number of selections ofthe at least one specified feedback option.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the request prompts the at least one broadcaster to perform averbal or physical action.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the atleast one specified feedback option is selected to cast a vote for oneor more actions to be performed by the at least one broadcaster.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein a notification to request the one or moreactions to be performed by the at least one broadcaster is provided whena threshold count of votes are cast for the one or more actions.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein a notification to request the one or moreactions to be performed by the at least one broadcaster is provided whena threshold count of distinct viewers of the live content stream castvotes for the one or more actions.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium including instructions that, whenexecuted by at least one processor of a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform a method comprising: providing an interfacethrough which a live content stream is accessible, wherein the interfaceincludes a plurality of feedback options to interact with the livecontent stream; providing a visual prompt in the interface, wherein thevisual prompt prompts viewers of the live content stream to select atleast one specified feedback option included in the plurality offeedback options to communicate a request for at least one broadcasterof the live content stream; and providing the request for the at leastone broadcaster through a broadcaster interface based at least in parton a threshold number of selections of the at least one specifiedfeedback option.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 16, wherein the request prompts the at least one broadcaster toperform a verbal or physical action.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the at least onespecified feedback option is selected to cast a vote for one or moreactions to be performed by the at least one broadcaster.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein anotification to request the one or more actions to be performed by theat least one broadcaster is provided when a threshold count of votes arecast for the one or more actions.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein a notification torequest the one or more actions to be performed by the at least onebroadcaster is provided when a threshold count of distinct viewers ofthe live content stream cast votes for the one or more actions.